Red Sox Journal: Players appreciate visit to military hospital

BALTIMORE — If the Red Sox’s trip to the White House on Tuesday morning exalted the team’s accomplishments from a season ago, their subsequent visit with wounded veterans at Walter Reed National Medical...

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TIM BRITTON
Posted Apr. 2, 2014 @ 6:56 pm

BALTIMORE — If the Red Sox’s trip to the White House on Tuesday morning exalted the team’s accomplishments from a season ago, their subsequent visit with wounded veterans at Walter Reed National Medical Center brought them right back to reality.

“That puts life in perspective,” manager John Farrell said. “When you see what others have fought for and what they personally have sacrificed, it’s a moment where you really pause to recognize what’s important. It’s humbling. It’s grounding.”

“It was definitely a reality and character check again,” said Jonny Gomes. “It was a long day. Are you really tired? Come on now. Are you really hungry? Come on now.”

The Celtics, in Washington to play the Wizards on Wednesday night, were also visiting the hospital.

“It was a good day to share a common cause,” Farrell said.

David Ortiz had a special moment with one patient.

“This one young guy, he’s like 26 right now, he had both of his legs blown up by a bomb,” recalled Ortiz. “His spirit was so good. Me, [Dustin] Pedroia and some of the Celtics players, we were around him and we were looking at each other like, ‘Seriously?’ So many people complain about stupid things in life, and look at this guy.

“The best thing that ever happened to me was to go and look at this guy. I guarantee you that made me a better human being.”

Mike Napoli called it “the better part of [his] day.”

“For me, I don’t know what they’re going through. No one can put themselves in that situation,” he said. “But you’ve got to look at it to where we’re coming in, we have the opportunity to help these people out for a couple minutes.”

Napoli said it used to be very tough for him to visit with wounded patients at hospitals, saying he learned a lot last year from David Ross when they visited victims of the Marathon bombings.

“I’ve definitely grown to get better. I was always scared to walk in there,” Napoli said. “I like doing it now. It makes me happy now. I want to go do it and try to help out people even if it is for that five minutes.”

It was especially meaningful for Gomes, who has talked openly about how he considered joining the Marines before he signed with the Devil Rays.

“In 2001, I had two contracts on my table — one from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the other from the Marines,” he said. “I always put myself in a position to where, which one of those guys would have been me? Would it be the tombstone? Would it be the guy who is the double amputee? Would it be a guy who is still over there?”

Living the moment

No, Ortiz said, his selfie with President Obama wasn’t a publicity stunt on behalf of Samsung.

Ortiz acknowledged that he does have a deal to promote the company, and he does have Samsung electronics in return. But his infamous picture with the president was relatively spontaneous.

“The photo with the president was a once-in-a-lifetime moment,” Ortiz said. “It wasn’t anything promotional or anything like that. Who knows you’re going to be able to take a picture with the president, a selfie? How many people can guarantee that?”

Ortiz was impressed with the whole trip to the White House.

“It was super cool the way everybody at the White House was — how friendly,” he said. “The person we see on TV, the person we all know, to see how humble and how cool [Obama] was was a great experience. It doesn’t get better.”

Gomes gets the nod

Gomes earned his first start of the season Wednesday night in left field, even with right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez.

Mike Carp had started opening day with Chris Tillman on the mound for the Orioles.

Gomes is 5-for-12 with two home runs against Jimenez, and those numbers played a big part in him getting the nod. Furthermore, Jimenez has been tougher on righties than lefties in two of the last three seasons.

The Red Sox last year weren’t slaves to platoon splits, sometimes opting to go against them because they preferred a different matchup.

Farrell said he uses track records to explore a matchup beyond the basics of a platoon split.

“You talk with whoever the player is and how they might feel against a given guy. You look at what the performance is, and it leads me to ask questions,” Farrell said. “What is it about this certain pitcher? Do you see the ball well on him? Do you have a better understanding of how he’s going to attack you? And then it leads into questions about what other guys have similar situations, and then you go back in and dig a little bit deeper to where you might find some hard facts to all that.

“The past performance shows you quite a bit initially.”

He’ll take it

Edward Mujica was two wins away from earning an invitation to the White House with a whole different bunch of teammates. But even though Mujica was on the losing end of last year’s World Series, he took advantage of the chance to visit the nation’s capital on Tuesday.

“It was a good experience for me,” Mujica said. “It’s unbelievable to be there and meet the president and shake hands with the president.”

Fellow reliever Burke Badenhop decided not to go on the trip. He’ll use it as some motivation to earn one himself for 2015.

“It’ll be the same president, so I hope next year I’ll get my chance,” he said.